Melodious Juncture
by OmnipresentNuance
Summary: With Lincoln by her side, Luna explains how recent events from everything leading to her headlining performance at the Royal Rumble to the whole fiasco of "America's Next Hitmaker" have caused her to make adjustments about what she wants out of life when it comes to music.


**Well, how's it going? While I'm still at work on "Flashing Back", I have a few other works of mine that can be put up there in the time it takes for that one to be completed in full, which could be some point in early February at the earliest.**

**The primary inspiration for this one is what was said during the last few seconds of "Really Loud Music", in which this story takes places several days after the fact. You may remember right after Luna concluded her performance of "Play it Loud", there was that line from Doug when he asks if Luna realizes what she's given up, to which Luna's response was that she does, but at least knows she's keeping the real Luna Loud. Generally speaking, that's interpreted as her saying that she'll never compromise who she is again to fast track herself to fame, but personally I sort of gleamed from that also the possibility that she might put some of her rock 'n' roll ambitions on hold. Now, there's a good chance that may not turn out to be true and something coming up in season 4, season 5 or beyond may very well destroy that theory. Nevertheless, I do think it would be interesting to work with the idea if Luna did think about changing some of her goals and such with music in relation to what happened in "Really Loud Music" and "Roadie to Nowhere" as well as the summary indicates. **

**With all that waffling, theorizing and some such done, enjoy!**

_**The Loud House is the exclusive property of Nickelodeon and Viacom. The usage of the setting, characters and such is based on nothing more than a pure affinity for everything and is not being used for monetary purposes.**_

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The front door of the Loud house opened up as Lincoln arrived back home. He'd been dropped off by Lori after he was given a lift on over to the comic book shop, where he indulged by getting not one, not two, not even three, but _six _new comics stuffed within his backpack. Based on that big purchase, it was safe to assume his attention was going to be quite undivided for the next while.

Upon returning home and climbing the stairs, Lincoln sensed an unusual level of calm permeating the abode. It must have been one of those rare instances when the majority of the family wasn't around and the decibel levels weren't blowing the roof off, figuratively or even literally for that matter. In other words, the perfect audio set up for comic reading.

For his first order of business, Lincoln went into his room, plopped his backpack on the bed, unzipped it and dumped out the comics he bought. He mentally salivated over the new adventures worth reading that would hold him over for the day and beyond.

Next, since it was a bit of a long day and he hadn't done so recently, Lincoln made a path to the bathroom and took care of business in that respect. When he came out afterwards, he saw that the door leading into Luna and Luan's bedroom was wide open. He took a curious peek inside to see Luna laying on her top bunk bed, her arms behind her head and her left leg hanging from the side casually swinging to and fro. She then happened to shift her gaze over to see her lone brother in the doorway.

"Oh, hey there, bro." Luna greeted with a small wave.

Lincoln waved back, "Hi, Luna. What's going on?"

"Eh, just chillin', relaxin', chillaxin', whichever way you wanna slice it." She answered.

"Oh, all right, then. Guess I'll leave you to that right now." Lincoln said.

Not even before he could take one step away, he heard his sister call out for him.

"Actually, if it's no trouble, Lincoln, would you mind joining me for a little while?" Luna asked, "I've been thinking I could stand to have some company right about now."

Though he had a bunch of comics he'd like to get into, Lincoln could almost never say no to some quality time with one of sisters.

"Sure, why not?" He said, showing off a little smile.

He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, figuring he and Luna could use some privacy, even if there appeared to very few members of the family home. He climbed up the ladder that leads up to her bunk bed and laid down on the end opposite of where his sister was close to the wall.

"Aw, no need to be shy, little bro." Luna said before motioning him to come closer to her, "Bring it on in."

Following her request, Lincoln shifted on over until he was right up against Luna, with his head resting right on her shoulder. She would then put her right arm around her brother and gave him a light squeeze, eliciting a little, relaxing laugh from both of them.

"So, what's the latest in your world, bro?" Luna asked.

"Well, I just got back home from the comic book store where yours truly has increased his collection by a sum total of six." Lincoln responded, feeling oh so proud about that.

"Six? That's quite a haul there, dude." Luna said following an impressed whistle.

"Yep, and I was about it get into them until you invited me up here." Lincoln noted.

"Oh, were you?" Luna said, feeling a tinge of regret inside, "I didn't know that. Sorry, maybe I should let go so you can do just that."

"Oh, no, no, it's fine, Luna." Lincoln said assuredly, "Those can wait right now, because I can always make time for you."

"Aww..." Luna expressed sweetly, giving her little bro a quick kiss on his forehead, then tightened her one-armed embrace of him closer.

A couple of minutes went by without another word being spoken between them, but that was no problem, as just being merely within each other's presence was always something that was fulfillment enough.

Finally, Lincoln did speak up when he saw Luna staring straight up the ceiling where her poster of Mick Swagger hovered right over them.

"Don't you ever get a little put off having him looking down on you?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, I'm one of the biggest Ace Savvy fans around, but I'd never want to have him lording over me in poster form in my sleep."

"Nah, not in the slightest, bro. He is the reason for who I am after all. Besides, when he's someone who is as dashing as he is, why wouldn't I want him watching over me?" Luna answered.

She sighed in satisfaction, which lead Lincoln to ask one more question of a much more personal nature.

"Uh, not that's it's my position to judge or anything, Luna, but..." He started out with, "Are you suggesting you're...attracted to him? I mean, you've told me he's about in his, what, mid to late 60s? He could be like a grandfather to us!"

Luna chuckled and used her left hand to tousle his hair, "You know, Linc, it is entirely possible to find an older dude good lookin' without wanting to...you know..."

"What?" Lincoln wondered curiously.

"Ah...let me just stop while I'm ahead, all right?" Luna concluded with an another chuckle.

With that awkward inquiry of Lincoln's out of the way, he and Luna resumed in simply relaxing together for a little while more.

A few moments later, Lincoln took a glance up at Luna. He got a sense that, based on her facial expression, there may something on her mind.

"Is there something up, Luna?" He asked.

"Hmm? What makes you say that?" She wondered.

Lincoln shrugged, "I don't know, you have that look on your face as if there was something you'd wish to talk about. So, is there?"

Luna gave out another small laugh. His instincts of wishing to know if anything's going on with anyone was one of many traits that she found adorable and admirable about him.

"All right, you got me, bro." Luna admitted with a light grin, "I have been looking for an excuse to express some soul searching I've wrangled over for these past few days and you may as well listen in."

She sat up and changed positioning by leaning herself up against the wall and Lincoln followed suit as well sitting next to her.

"I've been thinking, rethinking and thinking again about what I really want to do in life with regards to music ever since the whole incident involving 'America's Next Hitmaker' and all." Luna said, then followed it up with a deep breath.

"Oh? Like how?" Lincoln curiously inquired, but then he smiled, "Though since you brought that up, can I remind you again how awesome your performance was after you ditched that horrible 'Lulu' getup and rocked out like who you really are?"

Luna chuckled yet again, "I think you've told me that quite a bit since then, bro, but not that I'm complaining or anything. I believe at the time you called it my greatest ever performance. At least that's what I think you said, 'cause it was kind of hard to understand when you and the fam were squeezin' me tight in that big group hug and heaping all sorts of praise on me backstage almost as soon as the show ended."

"Yeah, but could you really blame us for doing so?" Lincoln said, "We were all so proud of you and not just because of how amazing you were, but I'd argue more importantly because you overcame those awful changes that were imposed on you and stuck true to what really matters: being yourself. No one should ever compromise themselves in order to get anywhere in life, especially someone who puts as much effort into what she loves the most like you do, Luna."

A big smile formed across Luna's lips. Her little bro always seemed to have the right words to make anyone feel good about themselves and for his troubles, she brought him into a nice, affectionate hug.

"You're simply too kind, little brother." She said fondly.

While Lincoln didn't respond through words, the simple gesture of nuzzling gently against Luna's shoulder said everything about his own appreciation for his big sister as he allowed himself to feel snug in her embrace.

A minute or so passed before Luna let go of Lincoln so they can then resume their discussion.

"So anyway, back to what I was saying..." She began, taking a deep breath in between, "That moment made me realize I was entering something of a crossroads with my goals in life involving music, especially when Doug and Michelle confronted me afterwards and then I decided to unload on them verbally for all they did to me."

Lincoln smiled from ear-to-ear while chuckling, "Oh yeah, I'm never gonna forget that moment. That may have been almost as satisfying as your rockin' performance just before!"

"Yeah, it did feel pretty righteous sticking it to them both before and after." Luna stated proudly in agreement.

Lincoln nodded, "It must have been. And since it's being brought up, you know what my favorite part of you going off on those producer jerks was? When you tricked them into believing that you no longer cared about becoming famous for the time being and only wanted to do your own thing."

He laughed at the end upon speaking, but noticed that Luna wasn't sharing in on the laughter. Instead, she was staring off in the distance with a relatively weak smile on her face.

"Luna?" He asked in concern.

"I appreciate what you were saying, bro..." She said before looking back over at him, "But the truth is there wasn't any trickery at all to it."

"Wait, what?" Lincoln questioned, his face contorting in confusion, "I don't understand."

"Well, that's what I was trying to get at. That whole experience made me think I'm being too ambitious in regards to becoming a major rock star." Luna explained.

"It did?" Lincoln wondered, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder, "Luna, I hope you're not suggesting that this experience completely demoralized you and made you give up on your dreams or anything like that."

Luna shook her head, "Oh no, it's not like that, dude. I mean, at least not entirely. Truthfully, I've been thinking about this for a while even before then. Allow me to explain things better."

Before doing just that, she changed her position again so that she was sitting on the center of her bed cross legged and facing Lincoln.

"Remember that gig I played at my high school, the Royal Rumble?" She asked.

Lincoln nodded, "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, you see, just after my audition for it, I learned that Chunk had similar aspirations of becoming a rock star at my age. But a few things about him had me worried. First was when he said that he slept in his van right on our driveway the night before. Then while he was driving me back home from the audition, he stopped and picked up an old washing machine right from the side of the street. This made me think he either did make it as a rock star at some point in his life before crashing and burning, or he never made it at all and had been experiencing some hardship." Luna explained further.

"Huh, I think I do remember hearing about those things about him, if not directly from you, then from elsewhere." Lincoln said, then another thought came to mind, "Also, wasn't this around the same time you tried getting jobs at the record store and the karaoke bar? Then when those didn't work, you tagged along with Mom at the dentist's office, then with Dad at the Aloha Comrade and even with Mr. Grouse over at the IT office?"

"Yep, all of that is true, bro." Luna acknowledged before she continued on, "So anyway, with all that stuff about Chunk and all those job opportunities not going too well, I thought about pulling out of the Rumble at that point. Since my confidence in music was also so shot by then, I considered giving up on playing altogether even as a hobby, because I figured what was the point if I thought I had no chance of making it as a rock star?"

A frown formed across Lincoln's face, "Wow, I never realized that it had become that bad for you then. I'm sorry to hear that, Luna."

"Now, hang on a sec, Linc. No need for sorrow, because there is a happy ending to all of this." Luna said affirmatively, "Right as I was going to tell my music teacher that I wasn't going to perform at the Rumble, I saw this flyer advertising a band called 'Chunk & the Pieces'. I had no idea that Chunk still played music, let alone had his own band, so I decided to check them out later at the Red Herring, the venue they were playing at, and safe to say I had a pretty rockin' good time."

"Huh, well that sounds nice and all, but how about what you said about him sleeping in his van and getting a washing machine off the street?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm getting to that, bro, have a little patience now." Luna told him, "So as it turned out, the washing machine was actually used as part of Chunk's gig that night. And as for him sleeping in his van? He only does that the night before any sort of big gig, such as my audition for the Rumble or that show he performed at, because otherwise he has his own flat that he lives in."

"A flat?" Lincoln questioned, but he quickly clued in, "Oh, that's an apartment, right?"

Luna chuckled and patted the side of Lincoln's shoulder, "Right on, little dude. Looks like my use of English slang is rubbing off on you."

"Probably. That and maybe also that British study guide Clyde once made me read might've had a hand in it, too." Lincoln said.

Both of them shared another quick laugh before the dialogue would resume.

"But anyway, the most important thing I took away from everything about Chunk was when I talked to him after his gig and what he said to me." Luna said.

"And what was that?" Lincoln wondered.

"Well, I asked him if he was ever bummed that he never made it as a rock star, since that appeared to be the only thing he ever wanted to do. But then what he said in response really got me thinking and has stuck with me ever since."

Luna took another deep breath and looked at Lincoln with a big smile on her face before continuing on.

"He told me that while he may not be playing sold out arenas, he's doing what he loves and that's how he defines making it in his mind. It was so simple, yet deep and profound, and thanks to those words, my confidence came roaring back and I was ready to perform at the Rumble and...well, you know the rest, Linc."

As she wrapped up her recount of that instance, Luna let out a happy sigh and maintained her smile while she scooted over toward the edge of her bed, casually kicking her legs as they dangled over the side.

"Okay, but with that being said, Luna..." Lincoln began saying while inching over closer to her, "How does this tie in with what happened during 'America's Next Hitmaker' and everything?"

The smile that Luna had seconds earlier shifted into a small frown. This was going to be the somewhat more difficult portion of the conversation, as that whole debacle dredged up some harsh realities over if she really had the most grounded of expectations when it came to her musical aspirations.

"Right, well as I mentioned earlier, it was the second time that my rock star dreams were being put in doubt, especially once those gnarly bigwigs wanted to change everything about who I was. The more I think about it, both then and now, that whole show had to be some kind of sham, because if they wanted to impose such changes on a finalist like me, imagine what would they've done had I actually won the whole thing. I'm betting they would have total creative control over everything: my image, the songs that I'd perform, how I conducted myself and so on." Luna explained.

Before delving further, Luna flopped back first onto her bed and shook her head.

"But those changes weren't the only thing that worried me, bro. Let's be hypothetical and say I did win the contest and got the record deal that came along with it. Well, putting out a record would obviously mean I'd have to go on some kind of tour to promote it and I doubt such a tour would only confine me to Royal Woods, Southeastern Michigan or heck, the Midwest in general. I'd probably have to tour the whole country, which means leaving home for a long period of time without knowing how long I'd be gone. I have to admit that would be a little hard on me."

She took a brief pause to sigh again before going on.

"And that's not all. If I had to go on a tour, what would I do about school? I mean, I suppose there could be some sorta arrangement where I'd have someone come along with me to keep tabs on my education, but having to do schoolwork on top of touring and recording? That'd probably too much for me to handle all at once."

"Well, Luna, I-" Lincoln attempted to get out.

"Hold that thought, little bro, I'm not quite done yet." Luna interrupted.

Lincoln acquiesced and allowed his sister to keep going.

"Now here's another thought: imagine if the tour was a smash and the record was selling like hotcakes and gangbusters. There would be immense demand for another record right away and that's where another uncertainty came to my mind. I'd might end up being signed to some major record label, bigger than the one from winning such a contest, and since most of them are based in the big cities like Los Angeles and New York City, what if that means I have to move out of the house and live in one of those places for recording purposes and the like? Forget about going on a long tour, moving out is something I'm not sure I'm ready to do just yet, Lincoln."

And that right there appeared to be Luna's biggest concern of them all. For as much as compromising her artist integrity for even just a fleeting moment for the siren song of worldwide fame got under her skin, the thought of leaving behind those with whom she loved and cared for the most at the tender age of fifteen for any prolonged period of time, irregardless if it was for the passion that drove her the most, was an uncertainty that she didn't seemed prepared for at all.

With her worries now out in the open, Luna covered her face with her hands and groaned. Meanwhile, Lincoln laid back down on her bed perpendicular to where she was with the back of his head resting on her stomach. He took a few moments to collect his thoughts and take in everything his big sister opined before mounting his own response.

"Huh, well, that's a lot to take into account, Luna." He said, "But let me ask you one other thing: did you feel this way before, during or after the contest?"

Luna exhaled and moved her hands away from her face, "Mostly before."

"Okay, so if that's the case and you had all these concerns beforehand, it does kind of beg the question as to why you even entered in the first place if that's how you really felt." Lincoln wondered.

"I have to confess, I don't have the best of explanations for that, bro. You got me yet again." Luna admitted, reaching over to place her right arm over her brother, "The only thing I can think of is that I was so excited about the show coming to Royal Woods that I didn't bother thinking through everything until just after I entered it. It's kinda like when I heard that Mick Swagger was gonna be at the Family Fun Fair and I turned into a total bonehead to you and our family until I realized how wrong I was. In both of those cases it looks like I acted out of impulse trying to get fame through any means without thinking over the long term effects."

For another extended period of time, silence filled the room. In that duration, Lincoln continued in taking in all that Luna had explained in their time together, but in particular how she wasn't ready in leaving home yet. However, as he was about to demonstrate, she wasn't the only one with worries about her music aspirations.

"Luna…?" Lincoln said, breaking the prolonged silence.

"What is it, bro?" Luna wondered.

A sigh came from Lincoln's mouth, "This is going to sound incredibly selfish of me to say, but..."

He turned over so that the side of his head was now resting on Luna's stomach and so that he can face her.

"I'm kind of glad you didn't win that contest in the end. In hindsight, I think that was for the best."

As Lincoln sort of expected, Luna raised her head just enough to lock eyes with him and had an eyebrow arched.

"Hold up, what now?" She asked, her tone of voice ambiguous in nature.

Lincoln sighed lightly, "Yeah, I don't blame you at all for being miffed at me for that. Like I just said, it's quite selfish of me to say such a thing."

"No, wait a sec, I'm not _miffed_, Lincoln." Luna tried in assuring him, "I'd say I'm more...confused than anything. Don't you want to me to succeed with my music?"

"Of course I do, Luna!" Lincoln answered unquestionably as he sat up into a sitting position, "I will always wish you the best when it comes to that kind of thing and I never would suggest otherwise. My only hope is that you do so on your own merits without anyone forcing you into conforming to changes that compromise your vision and image, just as I already told you before. But with that being said...after hearing all those concerns of yours...you aren't the only one who'd hate to see you be whisked away for a long time."

Lincoln's face creased uncomfortably, feeling more than just a little bit embarrassed admitting to the latter portion of his statement. Meanwhile, Luna also sat back up and looked at her brother with some worry. She reached out and placed one of her hands over that of Lincoln's.

"I take what you're saying is that you would really miss me if I did go away like that, huh, bro?" She inquired to him.

"Yeah, probably..." He replied with a weak laugh, turning his hand over to grab on to the one belonging to his sister, "Kind of embarrassing for me to say that out loud, because even though I know there will come a time when you will move out, the idea of you doing so before Lori or even Leni do the same for their own reasons...well, besides the fact that this house would be a little less loud, if you'll pardon the bad pun, but...I'll confess, I'd simply hate to see you go so soon. Once again, very self-centered of me to admit, but I'm being straight up honest with you and I wouldn't want to conceal my feelings over something like this."

Now with his own concerns being voiced, Lincoln tried his best in giving out something of a smile despite himself, but one big sigh later, that smile vanished. He looked down and shook his head, mentally kicking himself for coming off like his worries about Luna possibly leaving for any length of time mattered more than her own personal musical goals and ambitions, which as he said already was far from what he was implying. Still, it didn't make the idea of hypothetically contemplating his life right now without his third oldest sister around any less of a somewhat difficult idea to grasp.

Since the beginning of their conversation, Luna had largely been confiding in Lincoln about how she'd been feeling over the events that have made her change some of her plans in the music world. Now, having heard her little bro admit to the simple but completely understandable anxiety of just the idea of her not being around, she wanted to put aside her own worries in favor of acting in the role she loved doing perhaps just slightly more than being the family's resident rocker.

Giving a reciprocal squeeze of her hand to his, she reached with her other hand to turn Lincoln's head over gently so he can look at her.

"Hey, I don't blame you at all for the way you're feelin', Linc. There's nothing self-centered about missing those who you love if or when they venture off into the world. I'd certainly feel the same way about you and everyone else in our fam myself, too." Luna said.

Next, she brought her brother into a soft, loving embrace.

"But we don't have to worry about that right now, 'cause I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I'm still gonna be here for anyone that needs me, including for my baby bro."

Heartened by those words coming from his big sister, Lincoln returned the embrace and sighed happily into her shoulder.

"That's nice to hear, Luna..." He said to her, "Though I do hope what I've been saying didn't hastily change your future plans just now. I don't want to think I'm influencing you too much one way or the other based on how I feel."

Luna held on to Lincoln a little bit firmer and shook her head lightly, "Not at all, dude. It's like I said from the start in that I've been thinking about all this for a little while and I kinda already came to the decision of taking a few steps back before having this talk with you. After all that's gone on recently, I'd say that grounding my expectations is what's best for now for the next couple of years."

Following a little while longer in their embrace, Luna and Lincoln parted ways and shared smiles between them. After that, both laid back down together in bed facing each other.

"So what do you plan to do next in the near future anyway if I may bring it up?" Lincoln asked.

Luna grinned as she gave her answer, "I guess right now finishing high school is the big one. Education is kinda the biggest crimp that may prevent me in getting real far in any potential music career of mine, so there's that. Afterwards? Well, that's anyone's guess, but that's well down the line. Between then and now, though, I'm still gonna keep on rockin' like I always do on top of hangin' with the twelve biggest and most loyal fans of mine, especially this little dude right here!"

She drew Lincoln back into another little hug and lightly kissed his forehead, eliciting a little laugh from him, then she pulled back.

"Hey, in any event, I wanna thank you for allowing me the time to air out everything, Lincoln. You are such a great listener, which is one of the many reasons I love having you as my little brother." Luna expressed full of admiration.

Lincoln smiled, "Anytime, Luna. Always happy to lend an ear whenever possible to whoever needs it."

He shifted over closer to his sister again, which Luna happily accommodated as she put her arm back around Lincoln another time. Once more, no other words were spoken for a while, only the company shared between them being what defined this moment. Eventually, Luna did speak up.

"You know, I think I've taken up enough of your time right now, bro. I do believe there are some comics that are callin' for you." She said.

"I guess so." Lincoln agreed, "Might as well head on off."

With that, Luna allowed Lincoln to voluntarily decouple from her so he can sit up and climb down the ladder. He just about reached the door, but then he heard his sister speak up yet again.

"Actually, wait up, Lincoln." She said.

"Hmm? What is it?" Lincoln asked.

"Since you were so generous in lending some of your time so I could discuss musical plans of my mine, let me remind you of something else. You likely already know this, but it never hurts to reemphasize it..." Luna began saying, a warm smile beckoning on her lips, "If there's ever anything going on in your life you wanna talk about, no matter what it is, I'm available if you need me to be. My door is always open and worth knockin' on."

A big smile came across Lincoln's own face, "Good to hear, Luna. I know that you're far from the only person I can ever talk to if something's up, but it's still nice to know you'll spare some time of yours for any of my needs just as much as I did for yours just now."

"All part of my job as your big sis." Luna noted proudly.

"True." Lincoln said with a small nod, "Well, I'll see you around."

"Later, bro." Luna responded in kind with a wave.

Finally, Lincoln departed in favor of going over to his room, while at the same time, Luna sat up and moved over to the edge of her bed again. Though rock 'n' roll fame may be taking a backseat for a long while to come, she smiled and exhaled in delight knowing she still had a lot at hand to tie her down until that day may possibly come. She had her school life, her band, jamming on a casual basis by herself whenever she had the time, and of course, an incredibly caring and supportive family, including that of her little brother who took the time to hear her out.

In the end, she truly does have a lot to be thankful for and wouldn't ask for anything more.

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**And there we go! I know that Lincoln may have not been the most original of choices for Luna to have listen in on her concerns and adjustments, but it is what it is. That's how I envisioned this one from the start and that's all I can really say. So with that said, review, feedback, etc. and see you soon for more!**


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